After chaining two victories in a row for the first time this season, Lille Olympique Sporting Club (LOSC) faces Monaco on Sunday October 23 (8:45 p.m.) at the Pierre-Mauroy stadium. Closing in on the championship front with a quarter of the season over, Paulo Fonseca’s men will once again be counting on Jonathan David.
Author of two goals Friday, October 14 in Strasbourg, the player temporarily climbed on the first step of the top scorers of the L1, with a total of nine achievements in eleven games (tied with the Parisian Neymar), before being doubled. a unit by Kylian Mbappé Friday October 21 (10 goals) at the end of Ajaccio-PSG.
In addition, the Canadian international striker has overtaken Eden Hazard in the shelves of LOSC (37 goals against 36), incidentally becoming the club’s most prolific scorer in L1 in the 21st century.e century. All at 22, at the start of his third season with the Mastiffs.
Transferred from the Belgian club La Gantoise in the summer of 2020, the young Jonathan David then donned the costume of the most expensive player in the history of LOSC (transaction estimated at 27 million euros, excluding bonuses).
“Events have no hold on him”
Scrutinized every weekend, the striker had remained silent during his first thirteen appearances (ten in the league, three in the European Cup). Other players his age would have lost confidence, but not Jonathan David. “Honestly, in the locker room, I felt like I had a 30-something player next to metestifies his former teammate Jérémy Pied. And given his performance in training, no one questioned his qualities. »
Despite this period of scarcity, his generosity in the effort, palpable in matches as in training, proves to be invaluable for his team. Finally, the Canadian unlocked his counter against Lorient on November 22, and then chained the goals for the rest of the season. He climbs to 13 achievements in L1, including one at the Parc des Princes during a Lille victory which will prove decisive in obtaining the title of champion of France in the spring of 2021.
When the performances of his attacking partner, the Turkish Burak Yilmaz, lost their luster the following season, those of Jonathan David, they increased in power. Beyond his composure to finish actions, “his greatest strength as a striker is his intelligence in movement”insists on World Jocelyn Gourvennec, his coach at LOSC last season.
“He’s a very smart player. (…) It understands where the spaces are. I’m very happy to see what he’s doing for the team, especially in his pressing.”declared the current coach of the Mastiffs, the Portuguese Paulo Fonseca, in a press conference, after the last match in Strasbourg. “He is one of the easiest players to play with without having to know him”completes his former teammate, Jérémy Pied.
In December 2021, Jonathan David’s agent, Nick Mavromaras, said on the radio that his colt’s second season in the North would be his last. The future will prove him wrong. The second part of the 2021-2022 season for the Canadian player is more timid, he does not leave during the summer transfer window. Could the statements of his representative play against him? “No, I don’t think it influenced him.evacuates Jocelyn Gourvennec. Jonathan is very emotionally stable. On the pitch, he never quarrels with anyone. You can provoke him, he doesn’t move. Events have no hold on him. » What justify his nickname “Iceman”, beyond the climate of his country.
New Canadian Generation
On the other hand, the technician points a “lack of freshness” to justify this drop in performance. An essential element of the Lille team, Jonathan David has also traveled a lot to participate in the qualifiers for the World Cup with his national team in 2022.
Born in New York at the dawn of the new millennium, the young man could have represented the United States, but also Haiti, the country of his parents, where he spent the first six years of his life. He finally chose to defend the colors of Canada. It was in his adopted land that he began the socceron the Ottawa side, in the early 2010s.
With his compatriot Alphonso Davies, the versatile and twirling winger of Bayern Munich, Jonathan David embodies today the new Canadian generation which has made binationals, such as the Portuguese Canadian midfielder of FC Porto, Stephen Eustaquio, want to represent the Canucks. .
Thus, Canada qualified for the World Cup (November 20 to December 18) by finishing first in the final qualifying round of the North America, Central America and Caribbean zone. History for a country which had so far only participated in one final phase of the competition in its entire history (in 1986). “As a jersey collector, I asked him for one from Canada! »slips the ex-teammate of Lille striker Jérémy Pied.
While waiting to cross paths with Belgium, Croatia and Morocco, the adversaries of the Canadian selection, in Qatar, Jonathan David still has the opportunity to show his fangs on Sunday against AS Monaco in Ligue 1.